Top five work and health tips for human resource management
- Dr Lara Shemtob
- Mar 31
- 4 min read
Spring is a great time to refresh, reflect, share insights, and make meaningful improvements to our workplaces. As an occupational health physician, I work closely with HR professionals and see first hand how challenging it can be to navigate workforce health issues. These are often the trickiest aspects of human resource management. When managed well, the outcomes are fantastic. On the other hand, when things go awry, it can be gruelling - for both employees and organisations.
While I could write a book on this, I’ve distilled my top five universal lessons for handling the intersection of work and health.
Key Takeaways
Balance process with flexibility: Structured processes help manage work-health issues, but they must be adaptable to support diverse employee needs.
Communicate clearly and confidentially – Early, transparent discussions prevent issues from escalating, while handling health information sensitively is crucial.
Utilise occupational health expertise – Occupational health specialists provide neutral, clinical guidance to support employees and ensure workplace health strategies are effective.
Table of Contents
Work and health tips for human resource management
Managing employee health effectively is crucial for maintaining productivity, reducing absenteeism, and fostering a supportive workplace. HR professionals play a key role in balancing organisational policies with individual health needs. Here are my top five work and health tips for human resource management:
1. Process is Paramount
A solid process benefits both the organisation and the individual when issues arise at the work-health interface. Processes provide clear parameters for identifying deviations in productivity, attendance, or performance—early indicators that an employee’s health might be affecting their work. From sickness absence monitoring to 360-degree feedback, these processes serve as checkpoints and guidelines. When situations are complex, guidelines provide a crucial starting point. Without them, health issues impacting work can spiral, leaving both the employee and the organisation at risk.
2. Process is not a Panacea
Processes are paramount, but have their limits. Equality legislation is built on the principle that no single approach works for everyone. While processes provide a framework, there are times when they need to be adapted, as part of reasonable adjustments when supporting an employee living with long term ill health and disability. Whether it’s deviating from a flexible working policy or pausing sickness absence proceedings, adjustments may be necessary for a process to be effective, reflect a diverse workforce and ensure the organisation is operating ethically and legally.
3. Communication is Key
Health issues affecting work, or work that is contributing to ill health must be acknowledged and addressed early. Allowing issues at the work/health interface to fester only complicates resolution and can be more difficult for all stakeholders to recover from. Communications, and outcomes from communications such as when workplace adjustments are made for an employee’s health, must be explicit and documented. Processes often include formal communication checkpoints such as staged absence meetings, which help ensure that everyone involved is clear on next steps.
4. Maintain Confidentiality
The challenge with aiming for open communication is that health information is highly sensitive and must be handled with care. Employees’ health details should always remain confidential unless they choose otherwise. This means that instead of focusing on the specifics of an employee’s condition and asking for confidential health information, the organisation should try to understand how an individual’s health impacts their function at work—what they can and cannot do. That said, striking a balance is crucial. While confidentiality is vital, HR needs enough context in order to make informed decisions and respond to employee requests appropriately.
5. Know When to Lean on Expertise
Even with the best processes and communication, HR professionals often face inherent limitations when it comes to complex health issues. Most HR professionals don’t have clinical training, and even those who do must respect employee confidentiality when it comes to understanding health information.
This is where occupational health (OH) expertise comes in. OH specialists provide clinical, neutral, and confidential guidance that bridges the gap between an employee’s health needs and workplace requirements. Whether it’s helping an employee figure out what they can do to improve their health at work, assessing the functional impact of a health condition, recommending adjustments, or providing evidence based advice on context changes in the workplace, OH professionals can prevent situations from escalating into disputes, mistrust, or even legal action.
Moreover, occupational health expertise can enhance all four of the cornerstones outlined above, both in their design and implementation. Ensuring that processes—and deviations from them—are appropriate and effective is a key example of this. Since few organisations have in-house OH expertise, it often falls to leadership - particularly HR professionals and line managers - to recognise its value and engage it at the right time. Whether it’s during the groundwork phase or when troubleshooting complex issues, deploying OH expertise strategically can make a significant difference to the health of your organisation.
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